It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thorntens on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now, here's Nick Coffee. All right, folks, let's get it started hour number two here on a Monday afternoon, as we coomes you live from our four Street Live studios here iHeart Louisville. My name is Nick Coffee. I hope you knew that. The other voice you're hearing this afternoon is Austin Montgomery fill an in for the company man, mister John Alden,
who's on vacation. And we thank you for joining us. We know there's other things you could be doing, and the fact that you're with us right now again, thank you. And you can take us with you wherever you go, whatever it is you're doing. Listening live on the iHeart Radio app Listen live. It's seven ninety Louisville dot Com. The big news today, Dan Hurley has decided to stay at Ukon and not go to the Lakers. And I'm not one for conspiracies, because I think that their interest was clearly
I think Dan Hurley really considered it. But let me throw this conspiracy out there that let's see who started it. Joe pomp Alino is his name. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I know who he writes for. He's a sports and business reporter and he has the Joe Pomp Show, and he put this out shortly after it became breaking news. Because Woje, of course, the same person who broke the story that Dan Hurley was the Laker's top choice is the one who broke the story that he's staying at Yukon.
And I'll start with Woj's tweet, says breaking Connecticut, Stan Hurley has turned down the Los Angeles Lakers six years, seventy million dollar offer and will return to chase a third straight national title. Sources tell ESPN LA would have made in one of the NBA's six highest paid coaches. So the response to that is from Joe Pomp, who says this, it's almost like Dan Hurley leaked all of this through a trusted media source who literally wrote a book on his
dad to secure himself and even bigger con tracked at Yukon. Woje gets a big scoop, the Lakers get to say we tried, and Hurley gets a huge raise. When when when again, I'm becoming more and more open to conspiracies which actually conspiracies. I'll share one. It's fun to kind of just you know, get lost in one and where you really just see signs that are thinking, Okay, well this really is like controller thought, yeah, So but this one I don't buy. Like, I mean, we're talking
about the Lakers job here, and I mean I just can't understand. This goes back to what I talked about a little bit earlier, Like, Dan Hurley just won back to back titles at Yukon and he just turned down Kentucky. Did he really need to float the Lakers interest to get more money from Yukon. If that's the case, then they're poor bums. I mean again, yeah, the Lakers being interested in wanting to hire him, absolutely,
I mean there's no doubt about it. It absolutely makes him even more valuable to where they didn't get his deal done prior to the Lakers getting involved, so now they probably need to throw even more money at him. But like I just to me, just like, let's just let's go back in time. Let's throw this out there, because again, Hurley's dad was the first
feature in a book written by Woj many years ago. But I just have a hard time thinking Dan Hurley is feeling like he's got he's got to float something out there in order for him to get more money from Yukon, Because if Yukon is not giving him more money without the Lakers involved again after back to back national championships and him turning down Kentucky, then they're not giving him money because they don't have it. It's not because they're being cheap. It's
not because they're wanting to save, you know what I mean? Like, I just feel like that would be a really flat attempt here to try to, you know, get him to open up the pot book even more. Let's say pocketbook. I guess I mean the wallet, the check book. I don't know what is a pocketbook? Is that like an old way to describe a wallet? I don't know why I just said pocketbook. I'm not sure what it is. A quick Google search of pocketbook shows me. Let's
see here. Yeah, I mean what it is now you should know? Yeah, like a mini It looks like a mini wallet. I guess. Anyways, I just found out what a shoehorn was the other day. What
is it? Educate us, sir? It's I guess they now have well, I guess they've been having it. But it's it's like a it's like a long stick, and it's you know, like when you put your shoes on and the heel like kind of like sticks to the back and there's no way for you to reach down in there with with this object, the shoe horn, hence the name shoehorn horn, and then you just pull it right out. You don't have to burn your finger now to do it. Look
at you educating me. I didn't know what a shoehorn is. Now I know what it is. It use the word shoe horn without knowing exactly what it meant. I got one pair of Nike dunks that are or the same size as the other ones I have, and that left foot, man, I need a shoehorn for it because I'm getting down there and I'm tearing up the index finger because I'm trying to, you know, bring up the crumbled part of the back end of the shoes. So that's what that is.
I thought it was a backscratcher. I love. I love when you educate us here on the show. Often for the people, we certainly appreciate it, all right, So we'll let you hear. Actually, let's just go ahead and give you one of these clips because I thought this was this is Rob Douster, who covers college basketball for the Field of sixty eight, and you know he with this isn't some crazy, never before heard of reaction to
the news of Dan Hurley staying Yukon and turning down turning down Kentucky. But if you just think about the you know, and again, I've yet to hear anybody bring up something that's super similar. And I don't because I don't think it exists. Meaning a coach that has been on such a run that
he turns down these two caliber jobs, the Lakers in Kentucky basketball. I mean, I can't think of any coach that in I mean, maybe over time that's happened, right, But in one off season, within a couple of months time, you turned down two jobs that I think you could you could. I mean, in fact, I believe this to be the opinion. I believe this to be true. But everybody has their own opinion.
There's no way to prove anybody to right or wrong. I think Kentucky's the best basketball job in the country for college and the Lakers is the best job of the NBA, and he turned them both down. In about six weeks time, and it's just crazy to think about how on top this guy is right now. In fact, let's throw back to wrestling, shall we.
Austin Dan Hurley's over man, you're super over that. I'm using it correctly, right, Yeah, yeah, it's a babyface too, wouldn't you say, oh, absolutely not a heeli's Yeah, because again, he's one of those guys. And I can't think of who was kind of a heel but you couldn't help but still love him. There's probably probably many wrestlers out there, right. The one thing that I can just come to mind is like
Triple h he was always the bad guy. People loved him, though I'm trying to think of who it was, like one of the all timers, Like, even if you did turn him heel, there was still people that
like couldn't help but like like the heel I mean Hulk Hogan. Yeah, when he went to dub U W people, I mean they hated him in the moment, but he was then cool to like, yeah, he was already he'd already been over so long that like it would be very unnatural for people to just not like it. Yeah, but anyways, this is Douster talking about Dan Hurley deciding to stay in stores. Connecticut is coaching in stores. Connecticut has said no to the University of Kentucky and no to the Los
Angeles Lakers in the span of two months. Is It's wild man. Dan Hurley is staying at Yukon, Scott Drew is staying at Baylor. NATO to stay at Alabama, like I do. I kind of love that all of these coaches that are kind of in I don't want to say, off the beaten path places, but aren't in the places that typically have the most money and the biggest fan bases and the most prestige are staying exactly where they are. I love that about college path so real quick, and then we'll move
on. The reason I wanted to play that is because there was a lot of noise out there after Nil and the portal became this new world of college athletics. The noise in regards to coach is just not wanting to do it anymore. Coach is wanting to walk away. Coach is just deciding it's too
much. And yeah, there probably are some examples, but if you really look at the examples that people throw out, you can consider that there were other factors in play than just the fact that coach that players can get paid and they can transfer. I mean, Roy Williams, to me, was the most outspoken coach when it comes to his decision to leave North Carolina. I mean, I mean, I think he flat out said it. One of the players that was supposed to be coming back that he talked to,
asked about money, and then he just decided it was it. But Roy is seventy three years old. Guys, he'll be seventy four coming up here in a couple of months. If he was forty three, do you think he'd have walked away? No? I mean, this is a guy who really didn't have anything else left to prove. He's won many national championships. I mean, I just you know, I'm sure the change in the sport
did have an impact. He even said as much. But it's not as if, oh, Wow, the best coach has just decided they're done with college basketball. I mean Jay Wright, same thing. And Jay Wright's been unusual for many years. He's turned down big jobs multiple times to stay at NOVA where they can't pay him a ton of money, and he's like the fourth Maybe No, he's probably like the fifth biggest option in Philadelphia. Like
Philly does not support Nova. I mean, I'm sure they do to an extent, but like they are such a distant i mean, fourth probably fifth option in in Philly, and yet they won two titles in the span of three years. But Jay Wright, you know, he's just he's never been chasing big jobs and notoriety. He walked away and is content doing the TV
stuff. Coach K, I mean, I don't know why Coach K retired, But again, it's not as if he was in you know, it's not as if he was dominating the sport and you know, was about to put himself on the map as one of the best ever and then retired. No, he already was that and the job did change and it wasn't you know. Just these are dudes who've done in a long time and have accomplished a whole lot. I'd be a little more worried about the sport becoming just,
you know, less relevant because of the good coaches leaving. If you had somebody like a Natoats who you know has been grinding for years, was a buffalo and had a good run there, turned it into the Alabama job and has been good ever since. And then this year they broke through, made a Final four. That was a breakthrough when for Alabama and natoats and he's not going anywhere. So you know, it is different, like it's
not as if it had nothing to do with it. But I don't spend a lot of time worrying about the health of the of these two sports that I love so much, college basketball and college football because of these changes, because again, every coach that has left has been. You know, if you really just use your brain and give it some thought, there's other reasons while left, and those other reasons are probably way more impactful in their decision than nil on the portal. I mean, Nick Saban, what else does
he have left proof? I mean Nick Saban has been has been. I mean, I don't think you'll ever see another coach do what Nick Saban did as far as the run that he had in college football. Jim Harbaugh again already was in the NFL as a successful coach, came back to college and wanted to put Michigan on top his alma mater where he's from, and he did exactly that, and then he went back to the NFL, So it is different, and coaches are here's the thing. Coaches are going to continue
to complain about it. That's just what they're going to do, right. I mean, even Dan Hurley, he made a comment during their run to the national championship this year, at some point during the tournament that he doesn't want the tournament to end because you know, he wants to obviously make a deep run and win it all, but he also doesn't want to have to start dealing with the portal. So again, that is the big news today. If you are just now joining us, Stan Hurley turning down the Lakers
and we'll stay at Yukon. As I said to start the show, if this was going to be such a devastating hit to college basketball to lose a guy, it has already put himself in the upper echelon of the sport all time. Again, that sounds crazy because it's you know, he's relatively new, but he's also won back to back national championships and doesn't seem to be
slow down. So again, if losing him was going to be such a hit, I think that him staying at Yukon should be considered a big win for college basketball and I know none of us listening care about Yukon because maybe you do. Maybe you are a Yukon fan, maybe you're a transplant, or maybe you just live in stores, Connecticut and love this show. If
that's the case, thank you. But I got the sense that those who love college basketball not as if they were losing sleep over it, but probably thought it would be best for everybody who loves college basketball like us for Early to stay. And that's what he's doing, and that that makes me happy, It really does, all right, So let's talk about Kenny Payne really
quickly here. So on Friday in the five o'clock hour, I just happened to see this clip hit the timeline on Twitter, and it's from a podcast that Kenny Payne did in Arkansas. I believe the podcast is called is it called All Hog No Hogs plus the Razorbacks? Of course the Hawks. So Kenny Payne, this is the first time he has talked publicly. I mean it's not really public. He's in an office, an empty office, by the way, but he's sitting there doing like a zoom interview with this Arkansas
podcast. And again, this is the first time we've heard anything from Kenny since he did a press conference when Louisville lost in the ACC tournament and that, of course, you know, ended his time here and we all knew that was gonna happen. And when I saw it on Friday, I kind of thought to myself, should I play this, like does this you know, does anybody care? And I did play it, and it was just because it was once again a reminder of how delusional this human is. And
it ended up becoming news over the weekend. Right Eric Crawford wrote a great piece on it at WDRB. I think every news station in town covered it, because again, that is news. This is the first time that Kenny has talked about being fired at Louisville, and you know that, you know, hearing him share his thoughts on the departure and him moving on, you know, that's regardless of what he says. That is something you would expect
a local news outlet here in Louisville to cover, and they did. But I think fans hearing it, you know, in a weird way, I almost feel like it made you appreciate coach Kelsey even more now he hadn't coached. He gave yet we have to wait and see what those results are going to look like. And I think fans are one thousand percent justified and thinking this team could be pretty damn good in year one. I'm with you, that's what I think. So if you are of that opinion, we are
on the same page. But I don't want to make I don't want to turn this into where I just get a chance to just rail on Kenny and talk about how bad he was as a coach and talk about how bad of a that it was and how he took no accountability. Because I did that for almost two years. I don't, you know, I don't. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't have the energy for that.
I don't. I don't care about Kenny at this point. But what has really started to hook me in when I hear him talk, which again I didn't hear him for a while, is just how delusional someone can be. It fascinates me how someone can be that disconnected from reality. I mean, we always talk about other fan bases, especially like rival fan bases. I mean, heck, how many times have you heard of Kentucky fan Oh, Louisville fans they're delusional or Louisville fans say, Kentucky fans, man, they're
delusional. This is this is a different level of delusion because this is just it. You almost would need to be I think checked by a psychologist, a psychiatrist maybe, like how can you have this opinion? And the opinion is that he was doing a good job here. So again, we played it for some folks on Friday at five o'clock if you were listening at that time, in the five o'clock hour. And I don't think this is going to get people angry. I don't think this is going to throw off any
of the good mojo we've got right now for Louisville basketball. But I think for me, I was a you know, part of me said, well, I'm surprised that there's this many people reacting to this comment from Kenny. I'm surprised there's you know, there's people talking about it because he's gone. He's old news, like you know, it's but this thing has over five
hundred thousand views on Twitter. This this clip and if you didn't hear it, this is what Kenny Payne had to say about about the departure at Louisville. I'm at Louisville that was Mayama Mata. We decided to part ways. They decided to part ways, So you question all right before we get to more of it. I got to when he said we decided to part ways. They decided to part ways. Only can and he can answer this, But I got a question for you, Austin, what do you think when
Kenny just started at the beginning and then pause it again. I'm at Louisville. That was Mayama Mota. We decided to part ways, they decided to part ways. So you they we decided to part ways, they decided to part ways. Is that him correcting himself because he initially sounded like collectively everybody said this was over? Or is he acting as if both sides he wanted
to part ways and leave and they wanted to part ways and leave. I mean, he's not a great a speaker, we know, Yeah, So I think I think what he really feels is he knows that everyone knew it was over. But I feel like he's just trying to make it seem like not as bad. Amicably, Yeah, I just walked away. They were fine with what if he but to begin, if you wanted to walk away, then then can you give Josh hurt his money back because because you got
paid a lot of money to not work here. So I would assume that you still wanted, you know, to to work here, you wouldn't you wouldn't have received, you know, a buyout. I mean, if you quit and you wanted to walk away, then that would mean that louisvill wouldn't have had to pay you anything. But my guess is that he just corrected himself. But anyway, we would like to be paid damages as well. This is him sort of discussing, you know, the reaction that he heard
from people. According to him, after you know, it all ended, so you questioned yourself as a coach. And then when it's over, the conversations that happened around the country, numerous NBA teams, numerous college teams and programs, Kenny, we want you to be a part of what we're doing. We know exactly what happened. And then you realize, you know,
you really was on the right page. And so for me making sure that I went to a place that was a fit so and then he just starts to talk about Arkansas, and for those of you thinking like why do you care? Quit polling on the guy him alone. I mean, I hear you, but I'm not piling on I am. I mean, I'm more I'm more so fascinated that he could he could believe that, because I think he believes it. I don't think he's just trying to not make it sound as bad as it was. I mean, look, I think he believes
it. I think he believes everything he told us, which again I'm just blown away that someone could someone could believe that after after how they I mean, it's it's almost concerning for someone's mental state that they could not see this for what it was. Now, I'm not expecting him to come out every after every game, or even after he'd left and act like, oh yeah, I really learned the hard way. I was a terrible head coach.
No, but like again, he for him to say that he was on the right page, it's just so far from reality that it's a level of delusion. I'm not sure i've ever I've ever witnessed. Eric Crawford, who again does a great job, has for many years. He put together an article at WDRB dot com. I'm gonna read an excerpt here because I think
it's spot on. Oftentimes Crawford will put together a great column, and I'll find myself thinking, you know what, I wish I'd have said it that way, because I think Crawford has pretty level headed, not a whole lot of hot take reactions to things, but the way he puts it together in his work is just, you know, really really well done. And I appreciate his work. But also I'm gonna read at little part of it here
for you guys. If by exactly what happened, they meant that Pain wasn't cut out to be a head coach, not at Louisville, then yes they knew what happened. Payne saw it another way. You really were on the right page, he tells himself, And then Crawford goes on the right I don't see how he can say that Louisville, with its empty arena and back to back last place ACC finishes, was on the right page. If he thinks they were on the right page, we're not even using the same hymnal.
He had a chance to get them on the right page. In Louisville's final eight ACC games of the season, the schedule eased up, the team actually had a chance to put together a little run to dress up what had been another disappointing season. It lost eight games in a row in nine out of ten. What page is that is? This is Stephen King novel. I think instead Payne is on the right page now as an assistant coach. Understand that's not a knock, it's not a criticism. He'll make more money
as an assistant this year than I'll make in the next seven years. Not everyone is cut out to be a CEO. Some are really good coos, and that's a worthy and that's a worthy thing. So again, I would I would recommend going and reading it because it's just really well done. But I mean a lot of coaches have done exactly what Kenny Payne did, not to that extent, not been that bad, but it is not unheard of for a guy who's been a career assistant get a chance to be a head
coach and not have success. This guy, though, unfortunately for him, was really really bad, really really not fit to be a head coach, like glaringly obvious that this dude was in over his head from day one. And yet he's the one, you know, he's the coach that is still living in this delusional world. In speaking of the situation is if, I mean, it's just crazy to me. I mean, he gave the impression that he thought he was doing a great job at Louisville and that everybody else
in basketball, college and NBA agreed with him. Like, how can you tell people that and expect and expect them to think you're not a crazy person? I mean, blows my mind. All right, Sorry for going so long here in this first segment of the four o'clock hour. Let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Let's talk a little baseball. I have a little bit of jealousy because I'm not a baseball guy. You got know that. But this time of the year, early
June, you get the super Regional rounds. Everybody's playing for a shot to get to the College World Series. It used to be a given, it used to be just the expectation for Louisville baseball. Not as much lately, and now Kentucky they've made their first World Series appearance, College World Series appearance, I should say, And I'm a little jealous. I am, all right, don't go anywhere. It's coffee in company. Feel about Thornes right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety enough sports to kill an ordinary man. But you're not ordinary, are you? Sports Talk seven ninety number one for sports Sports Talk seven ninety. So I need to clarify something. When I mentioned not a big baseball guy. I don't. I won't pretend to know this and that about Louisville baseball program or college. I don't do it to act too cool, and I don't think it ever sounds that I'm like, I'm
trying to do that. But there's one person anytime I say that about baseball, they chirp in on the text line and say, you know, are you too cool? It's not that at all that I think I'm too cool. I don't think I'm very cool at all. And hey, having some baseball knowledge might might make me cooler, but I just I've never been that interested in baseball. It's not a sport that I find to be, you
know, all that entertaining. But my favorite baseball moments as a extremely casual baseball fan is whenever Louisville's making a deep run and they get to the postseason and went a regional and then get a chance to host a super regional and win that make it to the college world series. I mean, that's not something that's happened every year at Louis, but it's happened enough to where we've experienced and we know that it's awesome. So the reason I say that is
because I never want to sound like the guy. I don't want to sound like a poser, like a fraud, me acting as if me at least once, if I was trying to talk about the sports baseball, I would make a fool of myself. I mean, I probably do that enough as it is, but I try to be transparent because if I do slip up and say something that makes it quite clear that I don't know much about baseball, I just you know, I'm being transparent with you guys. So it's
not like I think I'm too cool for it. Now. Even if I was a big baseball fan and was really into college baseball and even major League baseball, I still wouldn't talk about it a whole lot on this show, because that's not really it's just not It wouldn't work right. There may be some that really enjoyed it, but there'd be a lot of people that would tune out. So again, when I say that, it's not like I'm acting too cool for it. It's just when I say I don't know a
whole lot about baseball, I mean it. I don't know a whole lot about baseball. I mean I've probably made that clear without trying to over the
years. But I'll never forget whenever I was asked to be a celebrity umpire in the Chris Mack softball game that they had for the Louisville basketball game, I you know, I called second base second plate instead of home like you know, I like that speaks to my level of baseball knowledge, which again not a whole lot of it. Baseball's a very deep sport to get into, Like there's so much history and there's so much there's so many players.
It's just so different in every way, Yeah, than the mainstream sports that sort of dominate the mainstream news cycle as far as sports. Yeah, and that doesn't mean that it's terrible. It's just different. Right, Like like in college, you know, rarely do you why it happens? Trust me, it happens. But most of the guys who become super successful in the major leagues, it seems, are guys who were drafted, like fresh out of high school. Yeah, who you know, were prospects that the big
leagues had interest in. They went and played in the farm system for a few years. So you know, it's just you know, so again I'm not not a big baseball guy because anything that I could do, like if I could go back and like do sports all over again, low key, I kind of think it'd probably be baseball playing it. I think i'd actually try to play baseball and just try to get it's kind of very low physical. I was always kind of a whimp. I mean, I played football,
but I didn't really love the idea of like getting hit. I mean, you could just hit the so you think, you know, so, I obviously it's like one of the hardest sports to play if you go by like some of the metrics all. Yeah, but like I mean, like you said, you take at baseball going one hundred miles per hours, seems like if like if if you'd have if you'd have shown me someone doing that
effectively, and I'd never seen it before, didn't know it existed. Yeah, I would believe you if you told me that's the only person on the planet that they can do that, because because it's that hard, I mean, you have to decipher the pitch first of all, if it's even gonna break, and then you have to find out if you want to swing at
it or not. And it's just I don't know. Like you said, you could get caught up, not called up, but you could get drafted very early, and you can make a lot of money before you even ever hit the big leagues. So yeah, there's something I feel like i'd go back and do. Yeah, I don't. I played t ball and I didn't make it past yeah, and that was it for me. I knew
it wasn't gonna be my sport. But my son loves it. So mos is gonna moos is gonna exceed you wor maybe one day whenever, I you know, maybe one day, five years from now, I will be much more knowledgeable because I've learned from my son, because he's he's really into it, and it is a it is a very it's a very tough feeling as a father, like knowing that one day he's gonna really want me to talk to him about the game, and I really don't have the ability to do
that right now. And luckily I've got a lot of friends that played baseball and they can they can help me out. But anyway, the reason I want to bring this up is because Kentucky baseball punched their ticket to Omaha yesterday with a win over Oregon State. It's the first time they've ever made it to the College World Series. And I won't pretend to know a whole lot about their season specifically, other than I know that they were very successful.
They've tied for the EAT, they tied for first place in the East. They were forty five and fourteen overall. And Nick Mangione, he came out on fire his first season there. They made it to the Super Regional and I'm pretty sure that was Super Regional where they played Louisville at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville. Swept him, and after that it kind of all, I don't want to say it all fell apart, but it kind of all fell apart. After that, he went thirty four and twenty two, no postseason
appearance, twenty eight to twenty nine, a losing record. In twenty nineteen, went seven and twenty three in the SEC, and then no season because of COVID twenty nine and twenty three and twenty twenty one. Sixth place finish in the East in the SEC. No postseason in twenty twenty two, twelve
and eighteen again no postseason six in the SECS. So I feel like for like two straight years it was it was being discussed that he would that he wouldn't, he wasn't going to survive, and then he was going to get fired. And I don't remember specifics, but I know at some point they were losing players to transfer before the portal like was a thing, meaning guys were willing to sit out just to not play there, and some of them were, you know, airing some stuff out on Twitter, which is never
a good thing. That sometimes that's just kids being kids, and you know, it's probably more of a bad look on them than it is the coach. But either way, it looked like Mitch Barnfardt was going to have to fire him, and he didn't. He's stuck, stuck around and now they're having success. I don't know if he is someone that really actually thrives in this new world of college athletics with the portal and INIL. I mean, baseball players can clearly make money through INIL like anybody else, but I have
no clue what the actual value is for them. Like, what kind of money those guys are actually making. I mean, heck, I think they probably say, hey, instead of giving me money through anil, like, put it towards my tuition because there's not many full scholarships to go around in college baseball. So either way, Kentucky's having success and it has made me
just kind of miss again. I'm not gonna act like I'm I'm this diehard fan that you know is devastated because Daan McDonald's now missed the NCAA tournament three the last four years. But it did used to become something in June that I could get into. Right, there's no other sports going on that I
really care about. I mean, the NBA, I'll into that a little bit, but we used to have late May early June when college baseball started to get you know, the most detention it's going to get throughout the year is when the postseason starts. And for Louisville it's just you know, they've
they've not they've not had success lately. You know, this year they were thirty two and twenty four, same record last year actually thirty one and twenty four, and then in twenty twenty two they had they had they made it to a super regional, they end up losing, but that looked to say, Okay, we're getting back on track here, and then again back to
back seasons with no instab A tournament. They missed the tournament in twenty twenty one, and during their COVID year they were thirteen and four before the season came to an end. And when you look at the personnel that was on that team, there's some that believe that could have actually been Dan McDonald's best team, maybe a team that gave him the best chance to actually get to
Omaha and do some damage. But they've been to the College World Series five times, I believe, ye one, two, three, Yeah, five times, I mean, and so despite their struggles, I think, and I couldn't speak for anybody but myself. I think most fans though, like know that, like, whoo, who would you want o them? Dam McDonald day McDonald is Louisville Baseball. This program did not exist in this in this way and at all before his arrival. And yeah, this is easily
the worst stretch of his of his time here. But you know, it's not a matter it's not a matter of Kenny coach. It's a matter of figuring it out right. Why has why have things kind of fallen off a little bit here? I don't Again, I won't claim to know a whole lot about it, but it sounds as if, you know, pitching has been a real issue in the last couple of years, especially this year.
I don't. Again, I trust those who say that because I know they follow it closer than I do. And then one thing I don't know, because I've heard both things is NIL meaning does Dan McDonald not utilize it because he's not a fan of it or does he not have the resources? And I don't know the answer to that. I actually have a hard time thinking he wouldn't want to use it, knowing that it's hard to come by for baseball pro and I'm sure they're on the short end of it, right,
I don't. I mean, let's be real, if money's being raised for ANIL, I know that there are ways you can make sure when you donate to the FIBLO two circle that you are supporting a specific program. But the money that you know, the most amount of money for NIL is football. Second most is going to be basketball, and then after that it's probably women's basketball, and then from there on, I really wouldn't even be able to tell you how it gets split up, right, And you can have your
own deals if you're a marketable player for a non revenue generating program. But as far as just the collective keeping these programs healthy, baseball is not going to be in the top three for sure. So I hope that whatever needs to be done is done. I don't know if that's getting more funds available for NIL, if it's you know, maybe adding some resources to the staff
that can help. Obviously, there's new positions created all over college football and basketball for these GM type roles to where you are somebody that is kind of in charge of NIL for the basketball program or the football program. I mean, that would be great for baseball, but let's be real, they don't even have the ability to have like more than two. I think it's changed since then, but at one point, it was unheard of the lot what
college baseball programs had to do as far as like paying their staff. Like you'd have somebody that was working way more than forty hours a week for a college baseball program, a big time college baseball program that was successful, and they were like a volunteer. I mean that's I mean, it's crazy. And look, I know the sport does not produce money, so therefore it's hard for it to be first in line when it comes to resources given. But Louis of Baseball, I mean, trust me, I don't talk to
Josh Hurt very much, haven't talked to him in a long time. But I'm sure everybody at U OFL that has any kind of say so once Louis of Baseball to be really good, and they're gonna do whatever they can to help dam McDonald get this thing turned around. But you know, unfortunately, it's going to be even harder now because you're gonna have to start paying players the school is and where that money's gonna come from, I don't know.
I mean, if they can get twenty million, twenty million dollars annually added to go towards paying college athletes on campus, that'd be great, but I don't think that's ideal. I think you're gonna have to do a lot of cuts here and there. And I don't mean sports that could happen, but I mean just really monitoring every penny you spend in your athletic department to make sure that the school can be competitive with other schools when it comes to how
you pay student athletes. So day McDonald was up for the South Carolina job, sounds as if they've gone in a different direction. Don't know if he
was truly interested. I wouldn't be shocked if he was. But I hope gave McDonald's here for a long time, and I hope that they get it worked out to where louisvill baseball can once again be part of the annual calendar, you know, the annual calendar of events for Louisville, right like obviously basketball football, you know, most fans that's their main priority, just because that's just how it is. But baseball really became something you really got into
really every year. I mean we're talking from I mean, geez, you go back to I mean two thousand and seven, College World Series, Regional the next year, super Regional the next year, Regional the next year, and then in twenty twelve, regional, College World Series the next year, College World Series the year after that, super Regionals back to back, then a College World Series again. I mean they were rolling from two thousand and
thirteen to two thy and nineteen. Dan McDonald was on top. Now he didn't win the College World Series, but that was the kind of that was the run they had to where if they ever did get hot and win the whole thing, nobody'd be surprised because that's where they that's where they were. Now will they get back to that, I don't know. That's gonna be tough to do. That's when hell of a run. But dam mcdonald' shown us that he can. He's a phenomenal coach. He just got to navigate
through these tough few years and get it figured out. And I hope they're able to do that. All right, quick break, we'll go back on the other side for a very short segment as we wrap up the four o'clock hour right here on Sports Talk seven ninety time, I'll about to coffee and company few my Thortins on Sports Talk seven ninety Once again, I put myself in a situation here where I don't have much time before we have to once
again take another break here. But we've got the five o'clock hour coming your way here soon, and we always try to finish strong on the five o'clock hours, so we'll do exactly that. But one of the things that I've been asked a few times on the text line that I've just not ignored. I just don't really know how to answered. But I've met people ask me
what starting lineup I would I would go with? What starting lineup I think Pat Kelsey's going to go with now that we feel like the roster is pretty much said, obviously, the news Friday, the Coleman Hawkins visit canceled Louisville wanting to not rock the boat, essentially wanting to do whatever they can to try to maintain the chemistry and continuity that they had, which, you know, chemistry and continuity would you would think would be a weakness of this group
because they're all brand new, and I hear you like, as far as playing together on the court basketball specifically, hard to imagine they have any chemistry. But when I say chemistry, I mean as a group, and that matters, Like obviously there's a lot more that matters than just that, but
I think it's not that complicated. If they were to add Coleman Hawkins, it would have led to probably one, maybe two guys deciding to leave, and who knows, maybe it would have been worth it, don't know, but this is the new era of college basketball where your staff has to decide what they want to do because they now, I know, with it being such a transactional thing and they're essentially being free agency and money to provide to players. You got to balance it. And I think they feel good about
where they are and the addition of Coleman Hawkins. If it meant that they were potentially going to be losing one, maybe two, they didn't think adding Colemanhawkins would be worth it. So as far as the starting lineup, I mean, it's a good problem to have, meaning that I can't I don't know who would be because I think there's a lot of different ways you could. You could put a starting five together, a lot of different lineup combinations.
You can play small, you can play bigger if you'd like, which I don't think they're going to do that a whole lot because they don't. That's just not the way Pat Kelcey typically plays. But they can if they
need to. So I would say the one guy probably there's probably two guys that I feel comfortable in saying like, yeah, they're gonna actually three three guys that I feel like will will play a lot of minutes and probably be starting and that is Terrence Edwards Junior from James Madison, Chucky Hepburn from Wisconsin. And I'll I'm gonna say case and Pryor just because he's a versatile big you know, he can stretch the foe a little bit. But also he can you know, he can be he can be a five for you in
the in the traditional sense if you need to. But Trey Ora, I mean Waterman, uh heck, James Scott. It sounds like he's continuing to impress. So, I mean, there's a lot of different lineups you could put on the floor. And to be clear, I'm just guessing. I have no clue who they're gonna who they're gonna start and what type you know,
what type of lineups they're gonna roll with. But I mean, you've got a lot of versatility, you've got experience, you've got shooting, and those are pretty good ingredients to have when it comes to putting together a pretty good team. Again, I'll always throw this disclaimer out there, probably more than I need to. It's the ultimate unknown, Like I'm not me being excited and telling fans they're justified and thinking this team could be a tournament team.
It is not me saying they better do it and if not, it's going to be a travesty and it'll mean that this coach is a bum. It's just, you know, because you have no clue how it's going to work out. All new players, brand new staff like it's it's all brand new, which again to me, it's the ultimate unknown. Nobody's played together really for the most part, so I'm not here to set expectations too high.
But again, I think this is a roster that on paper, when it comes to the personnel and the type of players they have, this could be a tournament team. I think it should be a tournament team. I think it will be a tournament team. And I don't think Pat Kelsey would
be would be bothered by fans putting those kind of expectations out there. I think that's one of the reasons why he would come to a place like Louisville, because we have expectations, we care, we're kind of crazy, and so far in the first couple of months on the job, he seems to be someone that you know, isn't bothered by our craziness. He seems to embrace it. Are we got another hour to go? So stick with us
to five o'clock hours. Coming up next, we'll reset some things and something I want to ask you guys, do you feel like it should be a requirement for the big schools in this state Louisville, Kentucky. Should it be a requirement that they fill out their schedule when they can with other in state schools like a Bellerman or a Murray State, Because that's actually happening in another state where there's a bill that's been put out there to require those schools to
do that, and I think it's nonsense. So we'll get to that in a lot more right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. This report is sponsored by Gutter Helmet Byiclassic dot com